McLaren boss Andrea Stella has expressed he is unsure whether Lando Norris could have won the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix without the penalty he received late on.
Norris was pursuing eventual winner Max Verstappen until a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for not slowing under doubled-waved yellows dropped him down the grid.
The incident occurred on Lap 31 as the duo went onto the main straight where Alex Albon’s wing mirror had come to rest having become dislodged from his Williams.
But although Verstappen reduced his speed in the Red Bull, the McLaren driver revealed that he hadn’t spotted the panels as the leaders headed into the opening turn.
Norris recovered to salvage points, but he rued missing out on a potential win having been tucked up behind Verstappen at the time he pitted to serve his punishment.
But while Verstappen had been in control since seizing the lead, Red Bull’s pace with the RB20 has tended to dwindle when the fuel load lightens in the closing stages.
Meanwhile, the opposite has been true with McLaren’s MCL38, as Stella acknowledged when asked whether Norris could have beaten Verstappen without his penalty.
“The pace on the Hard tyres was quite good,” Stella pinpointed to media including Motorsport Week post-race.
“And we have seen already that often this season that towards the end of the race on Hard tyres we can extract some additional performance out of the car.”
Stella highlights net negative
However, Stella has conceded the turbulence that would have impacted Norris through the high-speed corners would have negated the advantage he gained with DRS.
“At the same time I think the effect of the dirty air would have been important and as soon as you go below one second, while you get the DRS benefit, you start to lose quite a bit in the corners,” he accepted. “So difficult to say, not necessarily he would have won the race.”
Norris rues missed chance
Norris, who gave up a win in the Sprint race to team-mate Oscar Piastri, rued his error as it allowed Ferrari to reduce the gap to the championship leaders to 21 points.
The Briton indicated that he was bullish about his chances against Verstappen as the MCL38 around the Lusail International Circuit was the “quickest car” he’s driven.
“I didn’t give up until the end, I did my best I could,” he said. “I’m disappointed, two points for the quickest car I’ve ever seen.”
He added: “The team gave me the best car out there today. I’m very happy and thankful for them to do so.
“I got a good start, I got past George [Russell]. I thought George would be our biggest competitor today and that wasn’t the case. Max was and he did an incredible job.
“We go in the same as every weekend, wanting to win, wanting to be the best, wanting to be the fastest. I just need to not be an idiot and do what I did.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris admits he ‘f***ed up’ with yellow flag violation in F1 Qatar GP
